Automatic water-heater control valve



Dec. 30, 1930;- R. c. HOYT V AUTOMATIC WATER HEATER CONTROL YALVE Filed April 22, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Wflfi.

ATTORNEY Dec. 30, 1930. R. c. HOYT AUTOMATIC WATER HEATER CONTROL VALVE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 22. 1927 GAS H 01 NATE. R

.4- WATER ROBERT 0.- nova, or oAKnANn- CALIFORNIA Y 'AuToMA7ric WATER-HEATER coNtrnonvALvE- I j Applieatio n filed April 22, ieavf'sriaiivo. 185,864.

invention relates to improvements in mechanism operative to'control thelsupply of fluid fuel tothe burner of an automatic water heater and partacularly to mechanlsm C. Hoyt, No. 1,595,400, dated August 10., 1926, in which a fuel. supply Valve .is arranged to be directly operated bya differential piston which is automatically actuated in accordance with the turning on and off of service faucets.

Ageneral object of the presentinvention is to so. improve and simplify the structure and operation of saidfmechanisms as that 16 particularly disclosed in the before-mentionedfpatent as to overcome certain disadvantages which have been found to reside in uchine e s 1 f i lA'm'o're specific object of my invention is to'provide mechanismof the class described in which thesettlement of water-borne sediment Within the mechanism will be auto-f matically minimized, and: such sediment as does settle w ll be prevented from accumulatitmay' be readily removed.

' Another object of the invention is to provide an improved control mechanism of the class described which will operate at all times with? particular positiveness.

A further object is to provide mechanism of the class described in which the operating force of the water-controlled piston is at all times exerted axially of the piston and a fuel valve operating rod on which it acts, whereby the exertion of; side thrusts by such piston and rod will be prevented and thedeleterious effects of such side thrusts will therefore be eliminated. V V

Additional objects and advantages will appear as the invention is unfolded in the following detailed description having reference at preferred embodiment of my inven-j tion as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which I w 1 Figure 1 is a front view showing a por-f ti'on of'a heater unit having 'themechanism ofmy invention incorporated therewith.

$- such asthat disclosed in the patentt-o Robert ing ina place where, it may interfere with the operation of the device'and from which;

mechanism of my inventionisincorporated with alheater l-having a base 6 on which is, mounted a casing 7 ,"said baseand casing being arranged to enclose a suitable "water heatingcoil (not shown) having disposed beneath itjalgas burner v8 for heating said coil. Fixed to the base 6 is a bracket 9 providing'a-pair of vertically spaced upper'and lowerarms ll and 12, such arms beingfar I ranged to respectively support a gas feed valve'13 andjawater control-valve'l l. As here. shown, the feed valve 13 is connected between a shut-off valve 16 and a supply pipe 17: for theburner 8,. it being. noted that the pipe 1'? is disposed vertically and is posi-' tioned generally rearwardly of the valves.

- In the present embodiment of tlie invention, the valve 13 comprises a body 18 providing agas passage therethrough, said passage comprising portions 19 and 21 separated by a horizontally disposed common wall or partition 22. A port 23 to connect the passage portions is provided through one end of the partition 22, while the body portions opposite the other end of the partition are provided withaligned threaded inlet and outlet openings 24; and 26 respectively c0m-- municating' with the passages 19 "and, 21'. Means are provided for controlling the. flow of gas through theport23, such means com prising a valve disk 27 arranged to be normally'heldagainst a seat 28 provided on the upper side of the partition 22,'by means ofa compression spring29 operatively interposed between the disk and an opposed seat be longitudinally displaced for unseating the disk 27.

Preferably, and as here shown, the valve body is formed with a depending cylindrical boss 34 at the point of egress of the rod 33,

suchboss being provided with a stuffing box 36 for the rod and being externally threaded. The bracket arm 11, it will now'be noted, is

V perforated to receive the boss 34 therethrough, and the valve body 18 is arranged to be fixedly secured to the. arm .11 by means of a nut 37 mounted on the boss outwardly of the bracket arm. vided at its outer end with an annular spring seat 38, which seat is provided fora purpose to be hereinafteriset forth.

The water control-valve 14, it will now be noted, comprises a body 4l providing an upper pressure chamber 42 and a'lowe'rpressure chamber '43," the upper'chamber being a merely a reduced continuation of the lower chamber. The lower chamber 43 holds for 7 vertical reciprocationtherein a piston. 44

provided with a packing 45 whereby it may maintain a water-tight engagement with the. Extending upwardly fromchamber walls.

the body 41 in axial alignment with the pis- V predetermined position" thereon. 1 Fixed to; the'piston 44 to extend axially upwardly ally radially from the chamber 43, is an expiston in its lowermost. position.

ton 44 'is an externally threaded boss 46, such boss bein arran ed to be inserted'throu h' a perforation provided in the lowerv bracket arm 12 whereby, by'means of anut 47, the body maybe fixedly secured 'to thearm in therefrom and through the boss 46,- is a piston rod 48, a'suitable' stufling box 49 for the rod being provided in the boss. Depending axially fromthe pistonois a projection 51, which projection-is arranged to slidably engage'in a guideway bore 52 provided in a frustro-conical boss 53 extending upwardly from the bottom of the chamber 43, the top. of'such boss being arranged to supportthe Preferably, and as here shown, the boss is provided onthe inside of acap 54-whichisin'thread ed engagement with the lower end of the :body41 whereby ready access to the chamber for cleaning it out is permitted. 7

"Formed on the body 41 to extend genertension' 56' provided with a passage 57 opening outwardly of the body and threaded at its outer endtoreceive a water supply pipe (not shown Leading from the passage 57 to the chamber 43 is anopen inlet port 58, which port is disposed in the chamber wall at a-point'between the-inner edge of the cap 54 and. the plane of the top of the piston supporting boss 53.. Preferably provided at a point in the chamber wall diametrically op-I posite the inlet port 58 is an open outlet port 59, which latter port communicates with an upwardly directed passage 61 formed in thevalve bodyand having provided at the up- The hose is also proper end thereof aport 62 arranged to have the effective opening thereof varied. As here shown, control of the opening at the port 62 isprovide'd by means of an adjustablypositionable valve needle 63 having the conical, tip 64 thereof arranged to be variously disposedin and with respect to the port and having its stem extending from the body through a suitablestuifmg box 66 and terminating in a'lniurled head 67, the structure-thus provided constituting in effect, an

adjustablethrottle valve. 'Extending from theoutlet sidefof the port 62 to the chamber 42 is a passage68, while extending from the opposite'sideofchamber 42 is a second passage 69,wwhich latter passage is provided with'a plurality of openings 7 1, said openirigs being here'shown threaded for-connection to the inlet ends of a heating coil (not shown). As here shown, an integral body portion 7 2 is mounted above the passage 69, which body portion is provided with a'passage 73 therethrough and'is formed to constitute, in effect a i )e elb'owffor connectin 7 b theoutletjend of the heating coil withjthe hot water service pipe "7 4.

It will now be noted that-thla portion of particularly its lowering movement. 7 In the present embodiment, however, water flow ng to the heater coils is directed across the upper portion of" chamber 43 around and against the boss 53 whereby theseatfor the piston provided on the boss is kept clean and settlement ofany sedimentabove the bottom of 'the streamoffflow is positively prevented, while at the same time'the chamber space below such flowingstreamfprovides an ethcient trap for larger sediment particles.

- lV hen the water control device now described is in use, the port 62 will always be open to such an extentthat water will be allowed to flow through the coils at such a rate that it will bejdelivered from the heater at the desired. temperature. Under these conditions, when servicefaucets 21-16'111 closed position, the press'ures-atopposite sides of r the piston 44 will be equal andfthe piston will normally rest'on the boss 53, while the opening of one or more service faucetswill sufficiently reduce the pressure at the upper side ofthe, pistonto permit it being raised menses and} held in raised position by reason of the excess pressure beneath it, such raising of the piston being ut lized to effect the turning on of the, fuel valve in a manner to be hereinafter. described. Atthe instant of closing of the faucets, the resulting surge of water in 10, tofore been usually relied on to reseat the pisthe service pipes creates afmomentary back pressure in eXcessfof-it'he supply pressure,

which pressure, in combination with the gravitational pull on the piston 44, has hereton on the boss 53. In practice, it has been found, however, that, the piston does not always return to its normal position unless the service faucets are closed, since frictional resistance suflicient to overcome the surge pressure and gravity'may exist and means are accordingly provided for positively insuring the lowerlng of the piston 44 when no water is flowing through the water-control valve. I V

It will now be noted that in order to most simply effect a lifting of the valve disk 27 from its seat to thereby supply fuel tothe I Accordingly, and as here shown, the rods 33 30.

gas burner during the; passage of water through the heating coil, the piston rod 48' is arranged to exert an upward thrust onthe valve rod 33 when the piston, 44 is raised.

and 48 are arranged for reciprocation in a common axial line whereby an upward move. ment of the rod 48 may effect an axial move- 1 ment of the rod 33 to lift the valve disk 27 from its seat. Pivotally mounted on the free end 75' of the rod 48 and disposed generally thereacross is a disc member 7 6, such memvber being provided with an annular seat 77 at the upper side thereof, while operatively in terposed between the seat 7 and the seat 38 provided on valve 13, is a helical compression spring 78 whereby the piston will be at all times resiliently urged to maintain its depressed position. Preferably, and as here shown, the spring seat member 76 is provided with a socket 79 in which the piston rod end 75 is arranged to so engage asto permit a rocking engagement of the member 76 with the rod end. In the present embodiment the socket 7 9 and rod end 7 5 are both conical with the apex angle of the former the greatest. In this manner, the thrust of the spring in I the rod is arranged to be at all times axially noted," is. preferably normally disposed in slightly spaced relation from the member 7 6 whereby it will be engaged thereby only after the latterl has been raised appreciably. In thismanner, a slight'fiow Of water through the service pipes, as an account of. leakage in a faucet thereof, will not cause an opening of the gas valve 13, nor will the unseating movement of the valve disk 27 be asgreat as the operative movement of the; piston 44, and I furthermore, the structural independence of the valves 13 and 14 herein provided permits the independent installation of such valves andtherefore is an important factor in the installation and servicing of the mechanism.

From the foregoing description takenin conn'ectionwith the accompanying drawings, the advantages of the construction and method of operation will be readilyunderstood by those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, and while I have described the principle of operatiomtogether withthe device which I now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have; it understood that-the device shown is merely illustrativeand that "such changes may be made, when desirechas fall within the scope of. the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new and desire'to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, the following:

. 1. In combination with a self-closing fuel valve; of an automaticwater heater, ayrod member longitudinally reciprocable to open saidf'valve, water pressur-e'controlled means for actuating said rod, a helicalspring axially operative against saidrod to resiliently urge it to maintain an inoperative relation withrespect to said valve, and a member providing seat forisaid spring operatively'interposed between said spring and rod and arranged for a freely'pivotaland rocking engagement with said rod whereby the pressure of saidspringwillbe exerted entirely axially of'saidrod. 7

2. In combination with a. self-closing fuel valve ofanautomatic water heater, a longitudinally reciprocable valve rod for said valve for effecting the opening thereof, a second rod disposed for longitudinal reciprocation in the axial line ofsaidifirstrod, water pressure controlled means for pro ect1ng said second rod toward said first rod, and a member carried by said second rod in pivotal and rocking engagement therewith and in normally spaced relation from said first rod and arranged to engageanddisplace said first rod when said second rod is operatively projected.

3. In mechanism for controlling the fuel valve of an automatic water heater, a valve casing providing a water passage having spaced. and enlarged cylinder portions separated by imperforate; partitioning piston having the opposite endsthereof exposed in the; different said cylinder. portions, said pasc sage being constantly open to a fixed: degree andentering and leaving each of the respective cylinder portions at opposite sides 'thereof, and means controlling said fuel. valvein accordance with the position of said piston.

4. In combination with a self-closing fuel valve of an automatic Water heater, alongitudinally reciprocable, valve rod for said valve for effecting the opening thereof, a second rod disposed for longitudinal reciproc'a tion' axially with respect to said first rod and axially-spaced therefrom, water pressure controlled means constantly engaging vthe second rod for projecting it against the first rod, a helical spring constantly operative against said second rod'to urge it to maintain an in-' operative relation with respect to said first c rod, and amember providing a seat for said spring and operatively interposed "between said spring and second rod in pivotal engagement with'said'last rod, said member being normally spa'cedfrom the opposedyend of the first rod and arranged forprojection there-- against. I p 5. In combination with a valve mechanism for controlling the fuel flow to the burner of metrically opposite itsinlet and entering the other cylinder portion at' a point diametrically. opposite its outlet, and means connecting said piston With said fuel valve for controlling the same in accordance with the disposal of the piston. t

In testimony whereof, I aflixmy signature.

I ROBERT'C. HOYI.

an'automatic water heater, a valve casing'pro viding a passage, for the flow of a streamof water therethrou'gh and 'providlng a pair of pressure chambers comprising spaced porv tions of said passage, the outlets of each of said chambers being oppositethe respective inletstherefor whereby saidstream will flow flushing the same. j

diametrically across and entirely through both of said chambers for continuously 6. In combination with a valve mechanism for controlling gas flow proportional to water flow in an automatic Water heaterfa valve t able throttle valve interposed inthe passage 7 portion. between'said chambers, whereby said stream is arranged to flow solely diametrlcally through both of said chambers for flushing the same.

7. In a device forcontrolling the fuel valve of an automatic water heater, a valve casing ,7

providing an unbranched and constantly open water passagehaving spaced and coaxial cylinder portions separated by an imperforate piston having the opposite ends thereof exposed in the said spaced cylinder portions and connected by an intermediate passage portion, said last passage portion leaving one cylinder portion at a point diaits lis 

